Last night was theDavid Byrne tribute show at Carnegie Hall which brought out a host of cool musicians to perform songs by Talking Heads and other Byrne songs. This was the 11th annual tribute show at Carnegie, which are produced by City Winery's Michael Dorf and benefit NYC music education programs. The show was over two and a half hours long and ended with the man himself marching down the aisles with a marching band, covering Mark Ronson's "Uptown Funk." If you thought that Carnegie Hall might be the one place you'd never hear that song, you were wrong (video below), and it was a joyous capper to a very fun night.

The night opened with the Little Kids Rock band (one of the charities these shows fund) covering "Stay Up Late" which was appropriate for this School Night and they brought endless enthusiasm to the Little Creatures song. For such dance-friendly music as Byrne's, Carnegie Hall is maybe not the best venue (percussion/low end suffers in that room), but we all made do and there were some great performances. Esperanza Spalding took on another Little Creatures song, "Road to Nowhere," and brought some New Orleans funk and soul to the chorus; Billy Gibbons of ZZ Top gave "Houses in Motion" boogie and twang (not to mention endless cool), and he also added a mean guitar solo to Steve Earle's take on "A Million Miles Away."

"I didn't think about being eight months pregnant when I agreed to do this song," admitted a very showing Amanda Palmer, adding "The lyrics take on new meaning." Palmer, with help from Jherek Bischoff, took on "Once in a Lifetime" and she brought her cranked-to-11 personality and stage presence to that. She also brought Alexis Krauss of Sleigh Bells for Don't Look Back style cue-carding and Glen Hansard on backing vocals. Krauss did a fine job handing "Life During Wartime" (and talked a little about being a NYC schoolteacher) and Hansard performed a stripped down version of "Girlfriend is Better."

It wasn't until late in the show that the crowd all finally jumped to its feet, thanks to Sharon Jones who delivered a knockout performance of "Psycho Killer." The crowd stayed up for Santigold, backed by her flygirl dancers, who did "Burning Down the House." Then Cee-Lo, maybe a weird choice for this, came out for "Take Me to the River," taking out the Talking Heads jitteriness and putting back some of the smooth Al Green. (In a velvet garb, he also looked a giant Shar-Pei.) Then the marching band (which seems to be Byrne's new obsession) hit. Full performer/setlist rundown and pictures from Carnegie Hall are in this post.

The party kept going later that night at City Winery (where they had rehearsals the night before) which featured Malian band Songhoy Blues whose amazing energy definitely primed the crowd for the fun and very loose set by Antibalas who were the backing band at the tribute show. (The free wine and beer added a lot to the looseness of everyone onstage or off.) They performed a few of the songs that were done earlier in the night, including an extended version of "Crosseyed and Painless," but the highlight was an improvised number by Sharon Jones that was a little like "Land of a Thousand Dances" but in her own style, and she also battled on the congas with Antibalas frontman Amayo. As much fun as the tribute was, that will be the moment I remember from the night. A short instagram video of that, plus more pics, video and the setlist from Carnegie, below.

It's only February, but Doveman (aka Thomas Bartlett) is already having a characteristically busy year. He's currently on tour as a backing musician for past collaborator Glen Hansard, along with his fellow Sufjan Stevens/The National/Justin Vernon collaborator Rob Moose and his fellow Rufus/Martha Wainwright collaborator Brad Albetta. That tour wraps up this weekend. All remaining dates and a video from Wednesday's (2/10) DC show, below.

Ahead of that tour, Glen Hansard joined Doveman for one of his Burgundy Stain Sessions in Dublin in December, his second session ever to take place outside of NYC. The next session will be back in NYC on May 14 at Le Poisson Rouge. Guests are still TBA, but tickets are on sale now.

In between the Glen Hansard tour and the LPR show, Doveman will be on an international tour with the mostly-Irish supergroup he's part of, The Gloaming. It begins in their home country, where fellow Irish musician Glen Hansard's band The Frames play their 25th anniversary shows this July. All Doveman and Glen Hansard-related dates are listed below.

Doveman also played on and helped mix the upcoming Sufjan Stevens album, Carrie & Lowell, which comes out March 31 via Asthmatic Kitty. Sufjan was just announced for the Justin Vernon and Aaron Dessner-curated Eaux Claires Music Festival happening in Wisconsin on July 17 & 18 with Bon Iver, The National, Spoon, The Tallest Man on Earth and more. Tickets are on sale now. Sufjan will also be in NYC three times on his upcoming tour, which ends two days before Doveman's show in Sufjan's hometown.

James Richards IV shot a lot of shows for this BrooklynVegan year, mostly in Chicago, and now that the year's almost over, he's picked out 14 of his favorite shots of 2014 that he himself took. That's one above, and you can check out the rest below...

The annual Little Kids Rock benefit gala (which Brian Wilson played last year) happens this year at NYC's Hammerstein Ballroom on October 23 and honors Joan Jett. Green Day's Billie Joe Armstrong will present Joan with the award and Alice Cooper, Tommy James, Darlene Love, Jake Clemons, Glen Hansard, Brody Dalle and Jesse Malin will all be on hand to perform Joan's songs as a tribute to her. The event is produced by Jake's fellow E Street Band member Steven Van Zandt and his wife Maureen (both also of The Sopranos). You can reserve a seat now ($25,000 seats are the cheapest ones remaining, but there's a waiting list for the two lower levels).

Joan doesn't have any regular shows in NYC on her tour schedule, but she will be nearby not long before the gala for a show at NJ's Count Basie Theatre on October 11 with Jesse Malin. Tickets for that show are on sale now.

4:20 PM: When his phone is handy, Killer Mike likes to tweet out a 4:20 reminder every day. During Run the Jewels' set at the Palladia Stage he needed a little help: "Happy 4:20 -- Somebody tweet that for me!" he yells.

4:22 PM: During Run the Jewels' performance, El-P screams at security to stop roughing up a female audience member. Then, moments later: "Oops, my bad, it's a guy... And I just added insult to injury calling him a girl!"

...

9:09 PM: Chance The Rapper offers a real hometown treat when he brings out surprise guest R. Kelly. The fellow Chicagoan warbles the chorus of "The World's Greatest," the intro of "Bump 'n Grind" and some of "Ignition (Remix)" alongside the young MC. - [Billboard]

Lollapalooza 2014 wrapped up on Sunday (8/3) with sets from Chance the Rapper (who brought out R. Kelly), Run the Jewels, Chromeo, London Grammar, The Avett Brothers, and lots more, plus a few cloudbursts which were embraced by mud dancers as well as Glen Hansard as you can see above.

Pictures from Day One are HERE and Day Two are HERE. More pics from Day Three below...

More details have finally been announced for the Arthur Russell tribute album thatt he Red Hot organization is putting out. The album's being released on YepRoc on October 21, and is now titled Master Mix: Red Hot + Arthur Russell (it was initially announced that it'd be called This Is How We Walk on the Moon). The acts involved -- Hot Chip, Robyn, Blood Orange, Jose Gonzalez, Sufjan Stevens, VEGA INTL (aka Neon Indian's Alan Palomo) and many more -- are as diverse as Russell's work, which included heartbreaking acoustic/cello ballads and ahead-of-it's-time dance music.

The compilation is the latest in the benefit album series for Red Hot, which has been raising AIDS and HIV awareness for nearly 25 years, and has put out Dark Was the Night, Red Hot + Rio and many others.

Lollapalooza 2014, which goes down from August 1-3 in Chicago, announced its 2014 lineup. Artists include Eminem, Outkast, Kings of Leon, Arctic Monekys, Skrilex, Broken Bells and tons more. 3-day passes are sold out, but single day tickets go on sale today at 10 AM.

To celebrate the 1980-1990 period of Bob Dylan's career, ATO Records will release Bob Dylan in the 80s: Vol. 1 on March 25. The tribute compilation was put together by producers Jesse Lauter (Elvis Perkins, The Low Anthem) and Sean O'Brien (Dawes, PAPA), and features covers by Built to Spill, Deer Tick, The Hold Steady's Craig Finn, Gene Ween & Slash, Glen Hansard, Dawn Landes & Bonnie 'Prince' Billy, Blitzen Trapper, Yellowbirds, Ivan & Alyosha, Reggie Watts, Elvis Perkins, Lucius and more. Listen to Built to Spill's take on "Jokerman" from the compilation, with the full tracklist, below.

The new compilation will be celebrated with a record release show in NYC the day before its release at Music Hall of Williamsburg (3/24). The show will feature Dylan's music performed by some of the artists on the album, including John & Ian of Deer Tick, Elvis Perkins, Langhorne Slim, Dawn Landes, Yellowbirds, Hannah Cohen and members of Tea Leaf Green. The lineup also includes Spirit Family Reunion (who are not on the album) and "special guests." Tickets for the show go on sale Friday (2/28) at noon.

Stream Built to Spill's "Jokerman" cover with the album tracklist, below...

[Sam] Beam sang, in his gentle high tenor, about memories and connections, families and lovers. His songs, at their core, are folky ballads that mingle storytelling with more abstruse thoughts. But he has embellished them in various ways through the years: with folk-rock, country, jazz, even a little R&B. The "In the Reins" EP was his first experiment with horns -- Calexico's pair of mariachi trumpets -- but not his last; two horn players from his current Iron and Wine band, Curtis Fowlkes on trombone and Stuart Bogie on saxophone and flute, were also on hand, giving some songs a nudge toward jazz.

Calexico carried [Kathleen] Edwards's "Soft Place to Land" from a pensive hush into sorrowful peaks, and it stoked the rhythm just enough behind two incantatory songs from [Beth] Orton, the chugging "Call Me the Breeze" and the enveloping "Mystery." It was just retro enough for [Nick] Lowe's wry, elegantly turned novelty song "Christmas at the Airport" and straightforwardly pop for his "Cruel to Be Kind."

For [Glen] Hansard, the Irish songwriter behind the musical "Once," Calexico was attentive to the songs' dramatic arcs of loss and redemption. [NY Times]

The WFUV Holiday Cheer benefit went down at Beacon Theatre last week (12/10) with Iron and Wine and Calexico (who collaborated on 2005's In the Reins EP) plus Kathleen Edwards, Beth Orton, Nick Lowe, Glen Hansard and Amos Lee. The show saw the artists doing different collaborations throughout the night, and there were parts where the entire bill shared the stage at once. In addition to teaming up for each other's original songs, the artists did some covers, including Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah." Pictures of the show are in this post.

One of the other songs covered at the show was The Pogues' holiday classic, "Fairytale of New York" which Iron & Wine, Calexico, Glen Hansard, and Kathleen Edwards also covered later in the week on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. You can watch a video of that performance, along with more pictures of the Beacon Theatre show, below.

Earlier this year, we mentioned that WFUV would be doing their Holiday Cheer benefit at Beacon Theatre, which happens TONIGHT (12/10) with Iron & Wine, Calexico, and Nick Lowe. As if that wasn't already a fantastic lineup of folk/singer-songwriter type stuff, since we last spoke, more great atists were added, including Glen Hansard (The Frames, The Swell Season, Once), Kathleen Edwards, Beth Orton, and Amos Lee. Tickets for tonight's show are still available, but ticketmaster is saying "not many left."

UK singer Beth Orton will also bring her folktronica back to NYC for Lincoln Center's American Songbook series on February 14 in The Allen Room. Tickets for that show are still available. All Beth Orton dates are listed below...

Bonnaroo's inaugural hip hop Superjam--an R&B/rap counterpart to the festival's long-running, rock-dominated all-star jam sessions--was an uninhibited, messy rager for still-partying night owls at the Tennessee music fest. Paul McCartney might have been the Friday night highlight, but if you wanted to dance, this was the show to see.

The slickest and sickest set came from Solange, who enraptured the crowd with a funky, lovely cover of the Fugees' version of "Killing Me Softly." She also sang the hook on surprise guest Ghostface Killah's Supreme Clientele single "Cherchez La Ghost" and covered "Umi Says," an uplifting jam from Mos Def's solo debut. - [Fuse]

Toronto art pop musician Sandro Perri has a few dates scheduled to take place surrounding his appearance at this year's FYF Fest. They're a bit scattered at the moment so it looks like more might be revealed, but we know that one of them is a NYC show which happens on September 20 at Mercury Lounge. Tickets for that show are on sale now. All currently known dates are listed below.

Sandro Perri is also one of the many musicians being featured on the new Arthur Russell tribute album, This Is How We Walk on the Moon, that AIDS organization Red Hot (who are also responsible for Dark Was the Night, Red Hot + Rio and many other compilations) and Pitchfork are putting out. Sandro will join Robyn, Cut Copy, Hot Chip, Dan Boeckner, Twin Shadow, Washed Out, Laurel Halo, Sam Amidon, Devendra Banhart, Olof Arnalds, Jose Gonzalez, Thao with the Get Down Stay Down, Chad VanGaalen, Glen Hansard, and many others for the album. The project is being funded on kickstarter. The Kickstarter video and a list of all participating artists is below.

Earlier this year, DFA put out a remix 12" of material from Sandro's 2011 LP, Impossible Spaces. The stream of Eluvium's remix of "Changes," a list of all currently known Sandro Perri dates, and the Arthur Russell tribute info are below.

"Wet Hot American Summer" screens for free in Brooklyn Bridge Park. Look for the film's co-writers Michael Showalter & David Wain in the crowd. The Stella/State cast-mates are both NYC residents. I mean, maybe they'll want to see it too. DJ Conquerrah will provide some tunes.

High On Fire were scheduled to play Music Hall of Williamsburg tonight, but cancelled their whole tour.

The Arts & Crafts-signed Canadian band Zeus are in town for two shows, starting at the Rock Shop tonight and continuing at Mercury Lounge tomorrow (8/3) with ARMS (tickets). The shows are part of a tour which brings them back to Canada to play Osheaga on Sunday (8/5).

A couple Glen Hansard items for your Thursday morning. Glenn Will be at the Barnes & Noble Union Square tonight (6/28) for a free performance at 7PM, performing songs from his brand-new album Rhythm & Repose. (The event space opens at 5PM.) Later in the evening, Glen plays Le Poisson Rouge and thought the show has been sold out for weeks, some tickets are being released at 2PM today.

Back in March Glen, whose irst ever solo album Rhythm and Repose is out on Anti- Records on June 19, went down to Austin where he played a bunch of sets at SXSW including one at our own Hotel Vegan. NYC Taper was there and he recently posted the audio. Download that at his site!

"Once," a slowly unfolding tale of two Dublin musicians falling in love, emerged early as the night's favorite, winning for John Tiffany's direction and for its book, by the Irish playwright Enda Walsh, as well as for set, lighting, sound design and orchestrations. (The actors in "Once" double as the show's band.)

Near the end of the broadcast Steve Kazee, who plays the emotionally broken guitarist at the center of "Once," won for best actor and used his acceptance speech to thank his cast mates for bucking him up after his mother's death in April, shortly after the musical opened.

"This cast has carried me around, and made me feel alive, and I will never be able to fully repay them," Mr. Kazee said. [NY Times]

John Hodgman will be appearing with John Roderick tonight at the Rock Shop.

Glenn Hansard, who plays Housing Works tonight and who has an upcoming show at Beacon Theater, played songs from his new solo album on Fallon last night. Watch what he performed on air, and a web exclusive video, below.

Garage rockers Fidlar, who open for The Hives next week at Terminal 5, have a new video for their single "No Waves" and you can watch it below.

Montreal trio Parlovr, who were in town recently, made a video for their single "Holding Onto Something," which you can also watch below.

Given the natural, understated quality of Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová's heartfelt performances in the movie Once, it's hard to imagine anyone else successfully embodying their roles. The movie not only starred them, but was written by them; it was inspired by their story. And it takes some time to get comfortable with the new faces. But the transition from the screen to the stage isn't too much of a stretch. Much of the music has already been written, after all.

For the most part, Once, which recently opened on Broadway after a three-month run at a smaller theatre in the East Village, closely resembles the film. Girl meets boy busking on the streets in Dublin and soon (a bit too soon?) the two are sharing intimate details of their lives and making music together. Of course, it's not so simple.

With his polished good looks, Steve Kazee as the male lead comes across as a bit too suave and content for a man who supposedly embodies a dispirited loner, and Cristin Milioti as his counterpart lacks some of Irglová's vulnerability - not to mention, her character's Czech background can sometimes feel forced ("I'm always serious. I'm Czech!" she kept repeating for laughs, in an exaggerated accent). But any reservations about the new cast evaporate as soon as they pick up an instrument and begin to sing. Imitating Hansard's distinctive growl of a voice is no easy task, but Kazee holds his own. And the supporting cast (especially David Patrick Kelly as the man's father) is charming.

Though, it is billed as "fun" and "life affirming," the musical, like the film, is just as heartbreaking as it is romantic. As circumstance would have it, he has an unfinished love in New York, and she has a small child and - though we never see or hear him - a husband. As much as they might want to, running away together is never really an option. But in this case, the unnamed characters' quiet resignation to their separate fates only raises the story's emotional impact.

The stage setting - the dimly lit interior of a pub - is minimal. With a few small tweaks, the audience is made to imagine a music shop, a flat, and in one scene, the Irish coast. But the bare bones staging adds to the warmth of the production. The typical marks of a big-ticket Broadway production - flashy scenery and overly produced music - are wisely omitted by director John Tiffany in favor of a more modest musical with a big heart.

Over 20 years in the making, singer songwriter Glen Hansard will release his first ever solo album, Rhythm and Repose, on Anti- Records June 19. Best known for his work with The Frames, The Swell Season and in the feature film Once, for which he won an Academy Award, Rhythm and Repose is Hansard's debut solo album and first album of new material since his 2009 release Strict Joy with The Swell Season. The album will be available for presale at http://www.anti.com/store

In recent months Hansard has been seen in the documentary The Swell Season which has toured the film festival circuit this year, contributed two songs to the blockbuster soundtrack, The Hunger Games, and been active in the promotion of Once, The Musical which successfully opened on Broadway on March 18 to rave reviews, including the New York Times who explains, "what was always wonderful about 'Once,' its songs and its staging, has been magnified." Hansard will support the new record on a U.S. tour.

Rhythm and Repose is a result of Hansard's last year and a half of living in New York City. The album was recorded by Patrick Dillett (David Byrne, Arto Lindsay, Laurie Anderson) and produced by Thomas Bartlett (Doveman, The National, Antony and the Johnsons). The record features the musical talents of Brad Albetta (Martha Wainwright) on bass, Ray Rizzo on drums, Nico Muhly and Rob Moose on strings (Bon Iver, Y Music), David Mansfield on slide guitar (Dylan's Rolling Thunder Tour), Javier Mas (Leonard Cohen touring band) and half of Bruce Springsteen's current horn section. Assisting on vocals are Cristin Milioti (Once, The Musical), Sam Amidon, Marketa Irglova and Aida Shahghasemi (Marketa Irglova touring band).

Glen Hansard previewed some of those new songs at SXSW where one of the shows he played was the BrooklynVegan day party at 'Hotel Vegan' on Thursday, March 15th. Some pictures and videos from his 12:45pm set are in this post.

As the above blurb points out, the Once musical is running NOW in NYC, though Glen does not personally act or sing in it.

Glen, who meanwhile is hitting the road with Eddie Vedder, will headline four select shows in June including one on June 29 at Beacon Theater. Tickets for the NYC show went on presale today, and will become available to all as of 9am on Thursday (4/5).

All tour dates, the new solo album tracklist, and a Once musical video, below...

That's all Austin bands on the BV Austin stage. It's going to a very great day

In addition to the completely free lineup of 24 bands playing on THREE stages, we will also have complimentary drinks courtesy of HobNob Wines, the official wine parter of our entire week of FREE PARTIES at Hotel Vegan (check out HobNob's Facebook page for free music downloads), and a hosted bar courtesy of Sailor Jerry

We will also have FREE VEGAN TREATS courtesy of NadaMoo! and FREE Honest Tea. AND Supercuts will have a team of stylists on-site the entire day providing FREE haircuts and styling!

Special thanks to all of our partners and sponsors for making this party possible - including Vox, Blackstar and Korg, our official backline partners, as well as ASCAP, HobNob Wines, NadaMoo!, Sailor Jerry and M for Montreal! And special thanks to GBH Design for making our awesome flyer!

--

This is the first full day at Hotel Vegan announced. 2/3 of the Wednesday lineup is HERE. Friday and Saturday coming shortly.

Marketa Irglova (aka 1/2 of The Swell Season) released her first solo album, Anar, this past October via ANTI-. Though she's credited as a main writer for a few of The Swell Season's songs, her personality as a songwriter comes through much stronger here than on any Swell Season album. The songs are all led by her piano which tends to suit her voice better than Glen Hansard's folk guitar. There's also a lot of early Joni Mitchell coming through and the horns on "Go Back" tread into Feist territory. The video for "Crossroads" is below and the album is available on iTunes.

She played some shows in November including one at Bowery Ballroom. She has a few upcoming dates in February including two in NYC happening on February 15 and February 22 at Joe's Pub. Tickets for both shows are on sale now.

Michael Dorf's (founder of Knitting Factory) series of tribute concerts to benefit music education programs for underprivileged youth (which last paid tribute to Neil Young in February) will continue on March 13, 2012 at Carnegie Hall, when 21 different artists will perform the 21 songs from The Rolling Stones' massive document of the early part of their long withstanding career, Hot Rocks 1964-1971. The compilation was released at the tail end of 1971, and was filled with the bluesy cuts that they used to leave their stamp on popular music (though notably includes no tracks from the psychedelic trip they took on Their Satanic Majesties Request in 1967) before putting together the colossal double album Exile On Main St. a few months later.

So far the artists that will be participating in the show include The Mountain Goats, Glen Hansard, Steve Earle, Rosanne Cash, Rich Robinson, and Carolina Chocolate Drops. More TBA soon. Tickets for the show are on sale now.

Meanwhile, Steve Earle will be kicking off a residency at Michael Dorf's venue City Winery with Allison Moorer and friends in January. The residency will take place every monday over the five week period of January 9 through February 6. Tickets for all five shows are on sale now. The Carnegie Hall show in March won't be the first time Steve has covered the Stones. He's been known to cover "Dead Flowers" at his shows. You can listen to a version recorded live in Calgary that appeared on the deluxe edition of his 1988 album Copperhead Road below.

The Mountain Goats, who also play at the Stones tribute, will be sticking around after the Carnegie Hall show to play NYC's Ecstatic Music Festival later that month. They'll be performing material with vocal quartet Anonymous 4 that frontman John Darnielle wrote for his new project Transcendental Youth, with arrangements by Owen Pallett. They play on March 24 at Merkin Concert Hall. Tickets for the show are still on sale. John Darnielle also just announced a bunch more 2012 dates, all of which are listed below.

All Mountain Goats & Steve Earle dates and the above-mentioned song stream, below...

Other Voices, an annual musical festival held in Dingle, Ireland, may not be nearly as old as the town's pubs, but it has already become a rich, meaningful tradition since its inception in 2002. Though typically held in a tiny church, Other Voices jumped across the Atlantic and landed in Le Poisson Rouge for a couple of nights this week with the help of Thomas Bartlett (aka Doveman), Glen Hansard, and others--and it's all for a good cause! (All proceeds of the shows go to benefit Fighting Words, a writing center for children and youth in Dingle.)

"We don't know where we're going, we don't know where we'll be when we get there, and when we get back we probably won't know where we've been, so join us on this journey this evening," said Irish actor/writer Gabriel Byrne effectively introducing the event's pleasantly discursive nature. What unfolded over the course of the next three-and-a-half hours was a hearty round of poetry, prose, and music, much in the spirit of Doveman's monthly series, the Burgundy Stain Sessions.

Artist after artist shuffled onto the stage. Highlights included Glen Hansard's beautiful stories and songs, a newer piece by Thomas Bartlett (appropriately about the rain), a song or two from the talented folk singer Sam Amidon, a beautiful brand new piece written just yesterday by Bryce and Aaron Dessner that was inspired by the streets of Dingle, a couple of traditional songs by renowned Irish fiddler Martin Hayes, Joseph O'Connor's reading of an ode that creatively highlighted many of New York's music legends, and a surprise performance by Sharon Van Etten (and her sister Heather). The guests just kept coming. Bell X1 (who played a Smiths cover), Martha Wainwright, Jape, The Lost Brothers, Justin Vivian Bond, Nico Muhly; and from the Irish literary scene: Philip King, Roddy Doyle, Colum McCann, and Paul Muldoon. An unrecognizably shaggy Damien Rice even made a surprise appearance to play a couple of beautiful, completely unplugged and unaccompanied songs on his acoustic guitar.

The camaraderie in the air was thick. Though each artist had a chance to be in the spotlight, its loose structure allowed for one-of-a-kind impromptu collaborations. After a week of running around to catch ridiculously brief sets, often with compromised sound, it was a nice change to remain still and embrace a long, calming set as talent after talent humbly took to the stage. If you go tonight, just make sure to wear comfy shoes or arrive early to snag one of the few seats.